by KarenYankovich | Aug 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
A few years ago I held a workshop called “How to Make Money in Your Reiki Practice.”
It triggered some interesting responses and a lot of emotion from many. Those who were most upset believed strongly that Reiki was a gift they should freely give and the idea of monetizing that into a business and charge to make a profit was inherently wrong. My idea that this gift has value and practitioners should charge for that was not taken too kindly by some and I had to wade through a bit of a backlash during and after my workshop launched.
Last week I wrote about how to deal with toxic people online, and today I want to discuss some of my personal experiences and thoughts on dealing with what, at times, can be a hurtful and stressful situation.
First I want to say that the more visible you are on social media, the more opportunities for negativity to come crawling out from the online ether. So I knew the fact that I was attracting that kind of attention was actually a good thing.
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I knew I couldn’t take the anger and frustration from my commenters personally and I tried to take it as constructive criticism. In the instance of the Reiki workshop, I took the comments as an opportunity to engage in conversation. I replied back with a few other rational “arguments” to try to bring the conversation to a healthy give-and-take debate.
One of my key points was the idea that if you are working at a day job and doing Reiki on the side you are only able to help a few people because you are beholden to time on that job. But if you are able to charge appropriately and run a business then you don’t have to work a full-time job and you can use your gift to help many many more people out there because you have the time and energy to do so.
I also realized that while my stance was not popular with everyone it also gave a group of struggling Reiki practitioners “permission” to charge (or charge more) for their services so they could help more people and also make a living.
I’m also a huge fan of Tip #2 from last week – take appropriate action – and I deleted any post or comment that I didn’t like the vibe of during that time of the workshop. My team who helps me with social media, knows my stance, and had my permission to do so as well.
After my workshop experience I thought long and hard about the person I wanted to be out there online and I decided to take a big picture view and be a role model for others. Instead of acting out of a feeling of “lack” and fear, I realized that if my business ideas caused someone to unsubscribe from my list or post something ugly online that I have to delete, I’m okay with that because it means they are not the right people for me to work with.
If 10 people liked one of my posts but 1 person had something negative to say – that is ok! I decided the important perspective was to focus on the people who did like what I created, those people were the people I could help. I chose to implement the 90/10 rule (or 80/20), a great rule for diets, life, and business. There will always be that 10% or 20% that aren’t your customer.
If people are unsubscribing or un-liking my page I now just happily let them go because I know they aren’t the right people. My goal is to be a role model for how to treat each other online, and be ready to serve the clients that need and want what I have to give.
So let’s recap, when negativity reaches you and your business online:
- First, don’t take it personally. Truly dig deep, find compassion and let it go.
- Second, think about engaging in a respectful way by taking their comments as constructive criticism and as input to think about.
- Third, take action and delete when you need to and instruct your team to do the same.
- Fourth, be a role model. Take the big picture view. Show others how you want to be treated and let those who don’t wish to hear what you have to say, go.
More importantly remember: the more visible you are online the more opportunity you have to attract the negativity and toxicity that is out there, simply because more people are seeing your stuff. And that in the end is the best thing for your business because it means your reach is growing and you are attracting attention!
Need a boost or a pep-talk? Join my LinkedIn group! There you can connect with me and other business owners like yourself who are in the exact same boat. Visit us today!
by KarenYankovich | Aug 20, 2015 | Uncategorized
Social media can be scary in the best of times, especially when you are:
- Trying to figure out what to say.
- Not really confident you know how to say it.
- Putting you and your business “out there” online for the world to see.
Not to mention social media can be doubly scary when you are worried about the occasional “social media dream squasher” aka the Negative Nancy’s that surf the internet waves looking for their next big “reason to rant”.
Fears like this can cause even the most confident Social Media Maven to freeze up and shrink a little, and boy do I understand!
But I don’t want you to fall victim to their power. As a social media expert and one who has seen and dealt with countless “crazy” posts online I want to give you some tips and techniques to keep you confidently in the online networking mix, focusing on finding your next client or customer without worry.
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6 Easy Techniques to Successfully Deal with Toxic People Online
First: Set boundaries and limits.
When a toxic person shows up commenting on your blog post, in a thread on your Facebook business page, or anywhere else on social media limit yourself to one response at most. Don’t engage in a long back and forth debate about values, what your perspective is and why, as this will just waste your time and energy. Those who post toxic rants are not to be reasoned with and you should not even try.
Second: Take appropriate action.
I love Periscopes ability to instantly “block” a troll who pops into your ‘scope with off-color comments. On Facebook as owner of your page and profile you have every ability to delete, block and report a post, and the same is true for every social media platform out there. If it is somewhere online where such action cannot be taken, such as in a LinkedIn Group post, there is usually a moderator you can advise of the situation. Then leave it up to them to decide what to do. Just by taking action you will feel more “in control”, less stressed about the situation, and more able to concentrate on the priority at hand – keeping your loyal customers happy and engaged online.
Third: Trust in the power of social groups.
In my experience, most toxic posters get shut down by other followers. Most people don’t want to see these kinds of negative posts in their online business either. The more people that get involved the more positive posts will drown out the negative ones. Often the toxic poster gets driven away by the sheer crushing power of others posting, defending a toxic free internet on your behalf.
Fourth: Tell a friend.
No, not a friend who will take up arms in your defence and rant post right back, but tell a friend in real life. Go to coffee and chat about how this problematic poster made you feel and just get it all out. Then you can ‘cheers’ to the fact that you are having a lovely day drinking coffee and chatting with a friend and be grateful this toxic poster brought you back to recognizing what is truly important in life.
Fifth: Let go of control.
In the end we can’t control anything that is outside of our own body and mind. Know that you will stay positive and happy in the face of a person who’s actions might steal this from you. Know that your next big client is just around the corner ready to post a comment on how much they LOVED your free opt-in and can’t wait to read more of your stuff. And know that stressing over what we can’t control is much worse (usually) than the imagined problem if it ever really comes to pass in real life.
Sixth: Practice compassion.
This one is a biggie because it can be very difficult to do. Practicing compassion means being compassionate to yourself as well as to the person doing the online ranting.
Being kind in this way includes:
- Not negatively judging what you posted, nor your reaction to the toxic comments.
- Not negatively judging your toxic commenter.
- Having a belief in the fact that this person’s negativity derives from a mindset that deserves empathy, and then giving them some.
One of the best steps to practice that I have ever heard is to, “try creating a feeling of love towards yourself. Wish yourself happiness, and an end to your suffering. Wish yourself a life of joy and peacefulness. This won’t magically cure the pain, but it’s a good place to start.” As Leo Babauta so eloquently states in the blog Zen Habits
Finally, to read about a few more ways to handle toxic people online and off, check out Dr. Travis Bradberry’s very well written article here.
Still need to vent? Need some ideas or support to just “stay out of it” online? Join my LinkedIn group! There you will find business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as myself, in your exact situation ready to support you and lend an “ear”. Come visit us today!
by KarenYankovich | Mar 12, 2014 | entrepreneur
We all know we need to play nice with Google to have the favor returned in the online world.
There are two ways you can work to do that as you build your business on the web: SMO and SEO.
Today we’re going to tackle the basics of SMO, how it can help you and what to do about it!
SMO is Social Media Optimization.
Google tracks how many shares, comments, re-posts, clicks and link backs to your website/content are done across the web. High numbers establishes “social proof” that you are an expert in your field and thus Google recognizes this and rewards it with higher ranking. You can easily optimize this process by helping your content be visible and easily “re-purposed” across many social networks. You want to continually be feeding the Google Beast! Here’s how…
Steps to increase SMO:
- Expert, expert, expert. Show that you either know what you are talking about or have great resources that point to others in your field that do. Hopefully a mixture of both! You want people to see your content, your website, or your blog as the one-stop-shop for information they might need relating to your industry topic.
- Do some keyword homework, and use those same keywords across all social media sites. This brings consistency to your online presence, and helps Google present you to the right people.
- Engage with your audience. Ask for comments, respond to comments, set up social share buttons on every post/page, and then ‘push’ these posts out to all your social media platforms. Make it EASY for your readers to engage. Just like the rest of us if your reader is more comfortable on LinkedIn then make sure you are sending your content there to be seen and commented on from the comfort of their own ‘home’.
- The nitty gritty. Keep your title tags short and shareable, make it twitter friendly! And as we all have heard a thousand times… A picture is worth a thousand words. Use them!
- A quick tip. Finally there is some research that states certain platforms are more optimization friendly, notably Google+ and LinkedIn. Both will show up very high in your search rankings. Make it a goal to define a presence on one or both of these platforms in the next few months of
2014!
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There you have it…SMO basics, pick one step to try this week and make it happen! Which one will you choose?
As always I’m here to help.
Want a free mini Social Media Diagnostic? I’m doing 10 this month! Email strategy@socialmediaandpr.com to apply.
Photo credit: Bob Massa on Flickr
